Astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who were stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) for more than nine months, are set to return to Earth and splash down off the coast of the American state of Florida early on Wednesday.
According to NASA, Williams and Wilmore undocked from the ISS at 10:35 am IST Tuesday and set on a 17-hour trip back to Earth. The spacecraft, Elon Musk-led SpaceX’s Dragon, will splash down at around 3:27 am IST Wednesday. The spacecraft would perform a deorbit burn at 2:41 am IST.
The two astronauts flew to the orbital lab in June last year, on what was supposed to be a days-long roundtrip to test Boeing’s Starliner on its first crewed flight. The spaceship, however, developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back and later returned empty.
